Features

Kaspi.kz is Kazakhstan’s most exciting technology company, its most ambitious bank and perhaps its next international export, but rivals think they have figured out its secrets.

The economy is suffering as months of protests show no sign of abating. Banks have been targeted by demonstrators. So far, its financial markets have been largely unaffected. But surely it is only a matter of time before Asia’s greatest financial centre suffers too?

The government has big ambitions when it comes to the financial sector, but a second stock exchange, launched as part of a bold plan to turn the country into a Dubai on the Steppes, is a big ask when it comes to developing the nation’s capital markets.

Hong Kong’s Financial Services under-secretary is a rare species: a government official willing to talk to the media, despite holding such a tough job of keeping the SAR’s markets operating smoothly in a time of chaos.

Toppling a political dynasty is one thing, stabilizing Malaysia’s corruption-riddled finances is quite another, as finance minister Lim Guan Eng has discovered in his first 18 months in the job.

Bailed out by the IMF to the tune of $5.5 billion, the country hopes to break free of the programme in 2020, but flaws in its financial sector mean that going it alone will be risky.

Asiamoney ranks the top five counterparties and top three Asian counterparties in 11 different Asian jurisdictions as part of our 41st annual survey of liquidity consumption in the global FX markets.

Asiamoney has chosen three deals – across equity and debt markets, and M&A – from each of the past three decades since the magazine was launched; some are good, some are bad, but all have had an undeniable impact.

As Asiamoney celebrates its 30th anniversary, the progress of Vietnam’s financial markets over the same period can be told through the experiences of one man, Dragon Capital’s Dominic Scriven.